Love and Marriage Keep Little Company Nowadays
by Leymi
Summary: A new marriage law is passed, and Hermione is going to be forced into a marriage with Draco Malfoy. Will the most briliant witch of her age be able to get out of this one? Or will she be forced into a loveless marriage? EDITED.


Author's Note: Anything you recognize does not belong to me. Shame.

5/15/2012: I re-edited the entirety of this first chapter. It holds quite a bit of resemblance to the old first chapter, but this one suits the 18-year-old me better than the one written by 15-year-old me.

* * *

Sleeping had never been something that Hermione was particularly good at. Since she was a small child she would toss and turn and stare at the ceiling. She tried counting sheep several times, but that never did the trick. But it was worse now, especially after everything that went down with the war. As she began to wake, there were phantom pains in her scar. The one Bellatrix gave her. She ran her hand over it, shuddering at the memory.

Hermione slowly opened her eyes to see a strange tawny owl sitting on her bed post and a black owl sitting on her dresser. She yawned as she pushed the covers off of her. Her bare feet hit the cold hard wood floor with a light thud. She walked towards the tawny owl, briefly wondering who it was from. She untied the letter attached to the bird's foot as she noticed the Ministry of Magic seal on the envelope. The owl just stared at her, as if he was waiting for something. Hermione produced a treat from her dresser drawer, the owl took it in it's beak and flew off. The black owl glided over to the dresser and took up the spot the black owl had just vacated. The owl stuck its leg out at an odd angle and waited for Hermione to take the letter. She gently untied it and set the letter down on her dresser. Business first, as she always liked to say. The black owl seemed to be waiting for something, and didn't leave as quickly as the ministry owl had. She tried to give it a treat, but the bird wouldn't take it. She sighed in exasperation.

Hermione opened the letter from the Ministry of Magic as she walked towards her flat's kitchen with the black owl flying behind her.

_Miss Granger,_

_The war has caused a decrease in witch and wizard population. To prevent another war and increase the population, the Population Increase Law (PIL) has been passed. The law states: "Any and all witches and wizards that are fertile and of age will have one week to find a husband or wife of different blood heritage. After the one week is up, the ministry will assign a husband/wife. If the couple is assigned, they have one year to court. After that, they MUST marry. In the two years after their marriage the couple must produce at least one child in two years."_

_The announcement was made in the Daily Prophet a week ago today, and three owls were sent to you. We have received no notification of your plans, so we have assigned you Draco Malfoy as a husband. You have one year to court and then marry. After that you must produce one child two years with your assigned husband._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Jane Grassfield_

_Director of Population_

Hermione just about screamed after she finished reading the letter. Draco Malfoy, her child hood nemesis was required to be her husband! The ministry had gone insane if they thought Hermione Jane Granger would marry Draco Abraxas Malfoy. She intended to inform them as such as soon as she read the next letter. Like hell would she be marrying Draco Malfoy. She put the letter down and opened the next one. Her jaw dropped in a combination of anger and frustration.

_Granger,_

_I'm assuming you got the same damn letter I did. Meet me at Hatchet's Dinner in Diagon Alley at six o'clock sharp so we can get this straightened out._

_Malfoy_

The nerve of that bastard! Hermione put the letter on top of the other one. She went to a drawer in her kitchen and found herself a piece of parchment and her favorite quill. She pulled out a chair and sat at the breakfast bar and began to reply to Malfoy.

_Malfoy,_

_Yes, I will meet you at Hatchet's. Do me a favor and bring your civil tongue. I'd hate to cut the other one out._

_Granger_

Hermione looked the note, and decided to erase the last sentence. Perhaps that wasn't the correct way to go about meeting someone who she very well might end up having to live her life with. She whispered, "terego" and the writing disappeared. She rewrote the first two sentences, leaving out the last. It could only be fore the best if her anger didn't come out so clearly. Hermione tied the note to the owl's foot and gave it a piece of bread. When the owl finished eating, it took of through the window over the kitchen sink.

Hermione started to make her breakfast nervously, wondering what she got her self into, and the only reason for doing so was because she canceled her subscription to the Daily Prophet. Damn it all! The only excuse she had for herself was that the Prophet had ceased being something she needed to concern herself with.

Hermione dragged out her frying pan and looked through her refrigerator for eggs and cheese. Even though she knew how to cook by magic, she preferred the muggle way, and the refrigerator reminded her of her parents.

Hermione's parents were still under the memory spell. She hadn't figured out how to find them because they weren't in Australia where she had left them. It still pained her to think of the harm she had caused her self; her parents wouldn't even recognize her. Deep down she knew that she could find them. She knew that she could undo the damage. But she was afraid of what they would think. They taught her that her magic was a tool, not to be used unless there was no other way.

Well there wasn't at the time. Maybe they'd understand…

Hermione finished making her breakfast, which consisted of a cheese omelet and toast covered in nutella. The only way she could get her mind off her parents was by focusing on the situation at hand.

* * *

After she finished her breakfast and washed her dishes, Hermione walked to her bedroom and picked out an outfit to wear to Ron's house. She decided on red t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She put her curly hair up in a loose pony tail. She admired her self for a minute in the mirror and then walked to her fire place in the living room. She took a handful of floo powder, walked into the fire place and said, "The Burrow!" as she dropped the powder. She disappeared from her flat in a wave of green fire and reappeared in the kitchen fire place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's family. She walked out of the fire place and brushed the ash off of herself.

Hermione walked from the kitchen to the living room where the whole family, all nine of them were sitting. They were all silent. "Hi, everyone!" Hermione said excitedly, brushing back the thought of PIL.

Ginny got up to give her friend a hug. "Mum, Hermione and I made plans for today, is that alright?" Ginny asked her mother politely.

"Yes, of course." Mrs. Weasley said so stiffly, after the war she still had a hard time letting her children out of her sight, but today that was not the reasoning. Today she was worried about Ron.

After getting her mother's ok, Ginny ran upstairs and began to change, while Ro moved over on the couch so she could sit down.

"Hermione, we were just discussing that new PIL law. Did you get one of those letters from the ministry?" asked Mrs. Weasley to start conversation, "Ron got one recently. Told him he had to marry."

The young woman grimaced. "I did, actually. According to the ministry I'm going to be coerced into marriage. I have an appointment with my would-be-husband. We're hoping to get this all sorted out." replied Hermione. As an after thought she added, "They truly can't be thinking clearly."

"Who's the guy?" asked Ron, with a note of anger in his voice.

Hermione's face wrinkled up at the thought, "Draco Malfoy. I was disgusted. He even wrote me. That's why I have an 'appointment' later tonight."

Ron looked out stunned. "I'll kill him! That bloody bastard!" Ron yelled in outrage.

"Ron, it's not like you didn't have a chance to marry me, really. I see no reason for you to get all angry when you were perfectly aware of this new law, and I was not. If anything, you should have informed me of the law so I could have found someone to marry. Besides, you have a bride-to-be." replied Hermione calmly. At the back of her mind she kind of wondered who she was. She certainly pitied the girl who would have to put up with his strange mood swings. Maybe it was Pansy. That would be quite the riot.

"You do realize, you could have asked me to marry you," Hermione added as an after thought.

Ron's jaw dropped. "You… You didn't know about the law? Blimey…" he replied in surprise. "'Mione, Marry me?" he asked lazily.

The entire family looked from Ron, to Hermione, and back to Ron. Hermione tried to salvage the situation. "Ron, I don't think this is the best place for that discussion. If I get out of my marriage with Draco, then maybe we should discuss this privately. But ask me in a more private context…"

Ginny came downstairs at the exact right moment, saving her from dealing with the complaints Ron would undoubtedly have, "Uhh, Ready to go?" asked Ginny as she reached the bottom stair. She looked from family member to family member and automatically knew something was up.

Hermione stood up calmly, and replied, "Yes." They walked out side. "Ginny, do you have your license to apparate yet?" Hermione asked.

"No. Mum wouldn't let me get it last year. She said it was too dangerous for me to do. Can you imagine? She let all my irresponsible brothers get theirs, but she won't let me. It's so stupid." replied Ginny.

"Well, Gin we were at war last year. ", Hermione replied, "Do you mind side-along apparation?"

The red head rolled her eyes. She perfectly understood her reasoning, but not having been trained to aparate was a pain in the ass when they were trying to escape. "Sounds super. Where are we going?", she asked, ignoring any and all talk of the war.

"Well, I figured we could get some ice cream and then go shopping, muggle style, that is. And there's a muggle book I know you'll love, I figured we could pick that up while we're out. And then, if we still have time we could go to Diagon Alley and get your school things.", replied Hermione.

Ginny seemed to have taken an interest in all things muggle, and Hermione was an excellent provider. The two became quick friends while talking about a muggle book. While she spent the summer with the Weasley's. "That sounds great. Let's get going.", the almost seventh year said as she grabbed Hermione's arm. Hermione closed her eyes and concentrated. A second later they disappeared from the Weasley's front yard and reappeared in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley.


End file.
